Minecraft and Common Core Literacy Project: Givercraft starts Nov 17 GiverCraft Weebly October 21, 2014 Minecraft and Common Core Literacy Standards meld in one free project for kids grades 6-12: Givercraft. Click to visit the Givercraft website Dr. Lee Graham of University of Alaska Southeast is at it again. Her masters students combine the Giver and Minecraft to create a powerful 2 week experience called Givercraft starting November 17, 2014. Enroll your class in this free project now! What a great experience with gaming and literature to use around the holidays. The site makes a powerful claim about Minecraft that I also believe: Minecraft brings elements of integration, technology and extreme engagement into the classroom. Students will challenge themselves, take their projects further and demonstrate their knowledge of learning through this project-based course. Givercraft combines Minecraft and literacy standards in a free project for kids grades 6-12. Sign up while there’s still room! Who is sponsoring this project? Dr. Graham’s EDET 698 is designing and running a project for students using what they’ve learned in the course! (Intergenerational learning at its best.) Author’s Note: All college education technology classes can do this sort of thing. See see yesterday’s K12 online presentation by Verena Roberts about how intergenerational learning works. We should all be collaborating and connecting with REAL students and learn together. Learn how in  Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds (I coauthored this book.) Dr. Graham’s model of teaching is a powerful example of intergenerational learning in action. Givercraft Overview This 2-week unit will: Meet new Alaska Literacy Standards or the Common Core Literacy Standards • grades 6th-12th Let students expand on the book with their own thoughts and ideas Encourage students to collaborate and explore Provide teachers with a planned guide for integrating technology Let teachers explore gamification in a safe, guided environment on a private MinecraftEDU server provided through UAS Sign up now Last year my classes collaborated with Dr. Graham’s for Gamifi-Ed. In short, Lee and her students ROCK. Dr. Graham shares her philosophy of innovation in this Every Classroom Matters episode. The post Minecraft and Common Core Literacy Project: Givercraft starts Nov 17 [Link] appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

So many teachers are teaching blogging. I thought it would be helpful to see how I teach blogging to my students. Here’s my in-flip video. Listen to the Every Classroom Matters interview with Jon Bergmann, flipped classroom pioneer if you don’t know about the in-flip method. You’ll also see starting at minute 7 how I teach my students to begin blogging using our private Ning and a glimpse into the Ning. You’ll see the initial skills I teach students. (Titling, embedding, and writing style.) Essential Questions: What is a blog? Why are blogs important? How will we blog? How should blog headlines be written? What type of voice and language do you use in a blog post? What is one way to use elements on the web in your blog post? For blog readers who own a copy of Reinventing Writing — consult Chapter 8 (p 127) for details on how to teach blogging and microblogging. On a technical note, I had a few issues with volume levels on slide 2 and 3 and near the end, so you’ll need to turn up the volume there. I’ll have to re-record but haven’t had a chance yet. The post What is a blog? [Video] appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

Helpful Google Search Modifiers Poster Google Downloads for educators Here’s a handy handout that you can use as you teach Google search modifiers. It is amazing how many don’t know how to search. (See my Search Engine Math video for how I teach this.) Link: Get the PDF Google modifiers handout The post Helpful Google Search Modifiers Poster [Link] appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

Michelangelo defines great art. He carves the human form in marble as if it is caught between breaths. Muscles glisten with sweat. Agony shows on eyebrows as taut fingers curl. Oh to live as a master like Michelangelo! We know from his own words his desire to level up. His prayer: "Lord, grant that I always desire more than I accomplish." If you’re great -good enough is never good enough. The arch enemy of greatness is our own complacency. An insatiable desire to innovate lives in the DNA of the awesome. Do you want to be awesome too? How? 1. Decide to Level Up You’ve heard them: I’m too old. I’m too tired. I’ve done enough. Let the young people do it. I’ve done my fair share. Settlers in the land of complacency. They’ve pitched their tent beside a small stream. The birds used to chirp here. It was a nice spot. Not any more. When you’re green, you’re growing. When you’re ripe, you rot. Never settle in the land of complacency. Success is a journey. Ask yourself: What is one new thing I can learn today? 2. Take Time to Read You are changed by the places you go, the people you meet and the books you read. Brian Tracy claims you can be in the top ten per cent of your field by reading one hour a day. Books can save you time. Books can help you think and improve yourself. Why waste so much time trying to solve a problem when someone has already been there? I know you have grading and work and all this other stuff. But ultimately we do what we decide to do. If this is hard for you, try the mud puddle strategy. Have you ever seen a little boy outside looking at a mud puddle. Once he’s on the edge - HE’S GOING IN! Your physical world should encourage excellent habits. Put a book beside your favorite chair in the den. Anywhere you like to sit is a great place to plop a book or magazine. When you find yourself close to the book or magazine, you’ll find yourself in the book before you know it. Ask yourself: What is the last book I read? Be positive and level up 3. Watch a tutorial Geniuses live among us — AND THEY DO WEBINARS. Oh yes, they do! The Global Education Conference is coming up. The K12 Online Conference finished last week with 38 videos. Awesome teachers like Laura Candler and Richard Byrne do them quite often. (I do them too.) If you’re struggling you can search YouTube. Personally, I don’t take webinars or classes. I take people. If I feel stuck in a rut - I search for people who are awesome. Go to google, type in their name and the word "webinar". Sometimes "online presentation" works. We all know conferences can boost our energy but they are happening all the time. (Steve Hargadon is the king of online conferences. Follow his blog to find them.) Ask yourself: What have I watched lately that inspired me to level up? 4. Seek Inspiration Give yourself a vitamin B shot in your brain! Books. Best quotes. Best Practices. Vitamin B stands for Vitamin BEST. Apply the mudpuddle strategy here too. Where do you look that needs some Vitamin B? In the front of your planner? In Evernote? On your computer screen? (Make a desktop wallpaper.) Make the Best as close as a glance or the flip of a page. Don’t limit inspiration to words. I have a music playlist called "WonderBox." (Hat tip Austin Kleon and Show Your Work!) It is a wonderful box of joy that I open when I feel my heart flagging and start struggling. Music boosts your life, your heart and your mind in ways that are hard to comprehend. It is my vitamin B. Keep a travel bottle of your favorite perfume with you. A favorite lip gloss. A certain kind of coffee. Anything can be vitamin B. Be intentional about it. Ask yourself: Where do I struggle to be inspired? How can I inject Vitamin B there? This thought is for many of you out there.  5. Seek Wise Counsel Build your circle of the wise. "The next best thing to be wise oneself is to live in a circle of those who are." CS Lewis Look for those people who buoy even when the storms of life blow. Look for people who are unflappable and productive in every season of life. Look for achievers. Don’t expect these people to be easily accessible. If you’re lucky enough to have one of these people across the lunch table every day — LEARN. Wise people are sometimes BUSY or INACCESSIBLE. Don’t think they are always famous. Famous doesn’t mean wise. Ask yourself: Who are the wisest people I know? How can I make time to spend with some of them? 3 Rules in Life 6. Ask Awesome People Questions You’ll come across awesome people. This week the joint chiefs of staff happened to drop by my son’s fraternity at Georgia Tech for Homecoming. I asked him — Did you shake their hands? Just being around awesome can be cool. Most of the time we sit there clueless to the greatness around us because we’re too busy talking about ourselves to LISTEN. You uncover awesome by asking questions. Lots of them. No - don’t just stop random strangers on the street. That’s weird. (OK, my Dad has been known to be able to talk to anybody but most of us don’t have this talent.) If you know someone from Twitter and you’re going to be at the same conference - grab coffee. Ask questions. Learn from everyone you meet. Ask yourself: Is there someone I know who has a cool story? What questions could I ask this week to uncover awesome? Be the rainbow in someone else’s cloud.  7. Unplug and focus As I read The Organized Mind: Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload several things Levitin says jumped out at me: Glenn Wilson shows the "cognitive losses from multitasking are even greater than the cognitive losses from pot smoking. (97) Facebook, Twitter and social media are cognitive addictions. We can make a certain number of decisions per day. All decisions are the same to our brain no matter their level of importance. You are a human being, not a human doing. Those who respond to every notification of their smart phone make us wonder who is controlling who. Levitin also discusses the part of the brain - the insula switch - which switches our attention. He argues that when we think we see someone multitasking that they aren’t - they’re just switching rapidly between tasks. (96) Too much switching burns glucose rapidly and creates mental exhaustion. (And now we know why one day of teaching is more tiring than anything else we do!) You need times of complete unplugging from your devices. You need offline times to get things done. You need vacations where you put your mobile device in a basket as you grab an old fashioned camera and just PLAY. I believe the greatest among us are those who unplug and GET STUFF DONE. Ask yourself: When have I unplugged? Can I have some offline time today? "A rising tide raises all ships." We can be the tide. 8. Do Good to Others, Especially Your Students The unhappiest people are selfish people. Just because you think you’re having a "bad day" it doesn’t give you the right to multiply that "badness" by 80 or 100 or how ever many little ones you have in your care. In fact, multiply kindness, multiply goodness, multiply faith. There are times when kids see you grappling with struggles and your life becomes the lesson. Always take time to be kind. The best way to find your kindness "target" is to stand at the door of your classroom. As students enter the room greet them all by name. They’ll look at you when you do. Look them in the eyes. Their faces can hide things but not the eyes. You’ll see quickly who needs the kindness. When you’re having a rough day, nothing will get you to leave the pity party faster than knowing someone needs you. And guess what — someone always needs you. People are dying for encouragement. Literally dying. Behind the laughter people hide feelings of hurt, failure, and heartbreak. Be the one who looks outside yourself and sees a hurting world desperate for encouragement. Be the light. Be the hope. Be the hand of love lifting others from their despair. As yourself: Who needs my kindness today? Level Up Today Now you know. You’ve read to the end. Begin.   The post 8 Great Ways to Level Up Your Life appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

Ben Rimes talks about connecting technology and Common Core standards.  As a Technology Coordinator in Michigan, Ben is passionate about technology in the classroom, digital storytelling, and social media. Listen to Ben Rimes Add Ben Rimes to your PLN @techsavvyed The Tech Savvy Educator Show Notes: Ben Rimes - #61 - Five Ways to Leverage Technology to Meet the Common Core Standards Ben took every standard related to technology in the Common Core standards and created a word cloud. He found several related words common to standards across content areas. Publishing Online. He talks with Vicki about publishing and collaborating online which is a common standard in all content areas.  He suggests using wikis, blogs, videos, and methods for protecting students’ privacy while still facilitating collaboration. Digital Citizenship and Privacy. He shares how his district protects privacy. They have many ways for students to share their work. When Ben Rimes took every Common Core standard relating to technology and generated a word cloud, this is what he saw. Listen to his observations and how it has him helping teachers use Common Core with technology. Video. Ben is especially passionate about using video for authentic assessments.  He recommends using the technology tools in the learning process and reminds us not to expect perfection from our students all the time. He suggests to prepare potential audiences for viewing the learning process versus the final product. Video and Math. Use Ben’s Video Story Problem Channel to give cool math problems to students. Students can create their own. Technology and Perfection Paralysis. How Ben responds to those who claim that schools should only publish and share perfect work from their students. Ben shares what he said to his school board when they asked just that question about his fourth grade class. Use a wordcloud tool like Wordle to paste your standards in. Use it to discuss overall patterns in the standards with your teachers to get the big picture. What a great technique! Thanks to Ben for sharing it. Listen to Ben Rimes Listen to Ben Rimes (iTunes 3/26/14) Every Classroom Matters is a bi-weekly Radio Show by Vicki Davis on BAM Radio network with best practices for busy teachers.  Subscribe. Show notes prepared by Lisa Durff, Production Coordinator for Every Classroom Matters. Need help listening to the show? If you’re clicking "Play" on the BAM Radio Site, this often works best in Internet Explorer. Or subscribe in a podcatcher. If you need help, use this tutorial. The post 5 Ways to Leverage Technology to Meet Common Core Standards @techsavvyed appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

A big shout out to Jed Dearybury @mrdearybury1 and his second grade students! They debuted their version of "We Will Do Marvelous Things" on YouTube this week. Great job kids! Listen to what Mr. Dearybury tells his students at the beginning of this video! Tips for Teachers Your expectations MEAN EVERYTHING. What do you expect of your students? Could you sing this song with your students? Do you believe it? Let me tell you a secret. If you don’t believe it, you can’t do it. If you can’t see it, you won’t see it. Marvelous things are believed before they are experienced. Set those expectations. Dream those dreams. Marvelous, precious beautiful dreams. Check out Jed Dearybury’s Blog Do Marvelous Things! Have a great week Mr. Dearybury and students! The world is watching! I’m interviewing Jed later today for an upcoming episode of Every Classroom Matters. This video just couldn’t wait.   The post We Will Do Marvelous Things @mrdearybury1 [Video] appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

Students want to understand how ebola works. Can you get sick from ebola if someone in your state has it? How does it spread? Why is it so deadly? This simple to understand video (H/T Laughing Squid)  about the Ebola virus is trending on YouTube. It is a video for science teachers to use to explain viruses. It also helps us understand why we shouldn’t be scared of ebola. "The most infectious thing about ebola is the media hype around it. You could learn something about the immune system, though." says this well made video at the end. Resources to Help Us Teach How Ebola Works  Every hot topic is a topic we can use to teach. If we can teach students to look past news headlines and get educated, we will inherit a better world. As I perused the web, here are four lesson plans you can use for science, current events, reading nonfiction text, and ESL. PBS Ebola Lesson Plan Thinklink Interactive Guide to Ebola - This interactive tool has videos and other embedded information as students learn." If you want students to read nonfiction text - use the article from the New York Times and their related 6 Q’s ABout the News - A New York Times (Great bellringer and way to read nonfiction text) ESL Lesson Plan on Ebola If you can’t find what you need - see Larry Ferlazzo’s "Best Resources for Learning About Ebola" Since posting this video which I found via Laughing Squid on Tumblr, someone let me know on Twitter that Richard Byrne posted this same video last Thursday. So, I guess we both had the same thoughts about it. Great resource. Resources for Schools Concerning Safety and Ebola Ebola travels via transmission of bodily fluids. Pediatric or special needs educators may need some of these resources just to make sure they are aware. Again, we and are students are more at risk from the flu. CDC Information "Resources for Parents, Schools, and Pediatric Healthcare Professionals   The post How Ebola Works: Resources for Teachers [Video] appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

You… you teachers. You are doing amazing things to level up every day. You’re not settling in the land of complacency. You’re innovating. You’re leading. You give me and all these other teachers out here struggling great hope. So, when I asked a simple question on Twitter Thursday night, magic happened. Below is the storify I created as a result of your awesomeness. Have a great week and learn from other teachers. (Follow them too.) One tip: take a second to let the storify load or if you don’t see it, go to my blog website. It is worth it. [View the story "What are you excited about in your classroom?" on Storify] The post What are you excited about in your classroom? appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

When are you going to retire? I love this Stan Lee rant when people ask him this question. I also think some of you awesome educators in your 60’s and beyond need to rant on this one. Our 83 year old Learning Lab Director is Still Going Strong One of the best educators I know is Grace Adkins. She’s well into her 80’s and works full time. She rids 120 miles a week on her bicycle for goodness sakes. We Need Great Teachers to Teach! Come on people. If someone loves teaching and they love the kids and they know their subject - THEY SHOULD BE TEACHING. We have too few people awesome at the craft — we need you. If you’re one of those who people ask this - tell them to go jump in a lake and keep on teaching. If you want to retire, fine. But if not — KEEP ON KEEPING ON. We need you! When Mrs. Adkins walks on our campus every day, I’m thankful we have another day in her awesome presence. She’s a hero to me. Yeah, go ahead and rant. And stop asking awesome educators when they are going to retire and start giving them reasons NOT TO!!!! So, today, why not go up to one of those people of retirement age and say: "Thank you for being here. We love you. We appreciate you. I think you’re awesome." I challenge you. Go ahead! The post So really - you want me to retire? #rant [Video] appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.

200 Free Kids Educational Resources: Video Lessons, Apps, Books, Websites & More Open Culture Open Culture shares more than 200 free resources for schools. From free audiobooks, ebooks, and videos to physics comic books and a lovely foreign language collection — this is one of those pages you’ll want to email your teachers. Ask them all to find one thing they can use. Every subject taught in your school pretty much. Enjoy! (H/T Tim Holt for the heads up.) The post 200 Free Kids Educational Resources: Video Lessons, Apps, Books, Websites & More [Link] appeared first on Cool Cat Teacher Blog.